Fire escape



Apr. 24, 1923.y

C. C. ABBOTT ET AL FIRE ESCAPE FiledvFeb. 24h 1921 v Patented Apr. 24,1923.

lCricri. c. ABBOTT, orrinnnon SPRINGS,

ANDWILLARD EARL Bassn'rn BERT@ BAssnTfr, AND IRvIN L., BAssE'rT, orpn'riaorr, MICHIGAN;

l:FIRE ESCAPE,

r'appiimion mea February '2.4; 192i.` smal No. 447,4'as.

To all whom t may conce'rm;

Be it known that we, Cuori,k C. Ai'siiofrr,

XVILLARD E. BAssE'rT, Bini'rk LfBAssnTT, and lnviN L. Bassani,citizensfof the United 5 States, the first named residing at Harbor.

Springs, in the county of Emme/aand the others at Detroit, inthecountyfof Wayne,f

and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Firey l scapes, of which they following is a specification.

' This invention relates to portable fire escapes `which may bevanchored within a room when use of the same is necessary and operated tolower a person from a window of the room to the ground. rllhe object ofour invention is to provide novel means for pre# venting excess speed in.descent so that the person compelled to use the device will not withparts broken eye or hook 2 adapted to be engaged over a' bedpost or somefixed object adjacent'- a win-y dow of a room. This casing is providedat a point diametrically opposite the hook or eye 2 with a slot 3through which lthe tape or cable 4 passes, the said tape or cable beingequipped at its yfree end with a belt to be passed around the body ofthe kperson using the escape. The wound tape is carried by a drum 5 andhas its inner end secured to the hub of the drum, said hub being keyedtoone end of the main shaft 7 which has its ends supported in the walls 8of a support` ing frame and also has its intermediate por tion rotatablymounted in a partition or plate 9 forming a partfof the supportingframe. The partition 9 divides the casing into a tape or cable chambercontaining the drum 5 and the cablelk and a working cham'- bercontaining the operating mechanism. At that end of the shaft 7 which isdisposed within the working chamber, a ratchet wheel or collar 10 isfittedy upon the shaft so that it be apt to be injured lby violentcontact with `v may slide longitudinally of the same but is constrained'to rotate therewith and aspring .1151s coiledaround the shaft 7betweenthe kSaid ratchet and thel adjacent side y'platek 8.

rl'his ratchet-10 engages a matingratchet 12- which is fast to a gearwheell fitltedloosely upon the shafty7, as shown, a"pinion`-14 befy ingarranged ,l concentric fwith the" Shaft be- `weenfthe said 'gear 13 andthe partition" 9 and secured.totheV hub ofthe drum. y f The gearwheelf13inesh`es with, a pinion 15 which is carried bya countershaft'suitably journaled in the plate Sand the lpartition`9, saidcountershaft also carrying a gear wheel 16 which meshes with a pinion 17on the governor kshaft 18.` The .said governor the inner end wall of agovernor casing o r rshaft is journaled in the partition 9and in drum 19the peripheral wall of the casingV I' 4 being secured .rigidly tothe-plate 8 ,and a disk or head 19. beingcarried bythe end of the shaftv18 within ythe casing. Shoes 20y arecarried bythe outer ends of Shanks21 which are'provided with longitudinal slots 22 engaged by headed studsor pins 23 fitted through the slotsinto the disk or headf19 so that theshanksvwill be supportedfw'thin,

the casing yand permitted to slide toward and adapted to engage thehooks 26, as clearly lfrom'y the'periphery of the same. The shoes y 2shown, while-at their opposite ends they carry 'the weights 29 connectedby a spring 130 and norm'allyvdrawn toward eachother by said spring.Whenfthe device is in use, the 4unvvinding of the tape or .cable 4 willimpart mot-ion to theshaft 7 and this mof tion will be transmittedthrough the described 'earing to the governor shaft 18 and inasrnudli assaid shaft is fixed toy thedisk 19 said disk will be rotated at the samespeed-as thejshaft. As the speed increases, the weights 29 will moveapart under'centrifugal action and the governor arms 27 kwill be rockedupontheir fulcrums, thereby causing` the hooks or teeth 28 toswinginwardly and bear upon the hooks or teeth 2G so as to rock the dogs 124and'thereby slide the Shanks 21' outwardly to cause the shoes 2O to bearupon the peripheral wall of the governor casing.A The speed of the partswill, therefore, be. checked and the persony using the device will belowered gradually to the ground so that he will not be injured throughtoo rapid descent and sudden contact with the ground. Whenk the cable 4is rewound, the ratchet member l0 will work looselyupon 'the ratchetmember l2 and ridefoverv the same so thaty the governor -will not beoperated.`

l To` rewind'the cable or tape 4, we provide springl which is wound asthe tape or cable 4;*is drawn `tromv the casing. The spring 31. hasoneend anchored'within the casing, Nas shown at 32, and its other end issecured tothe shaft `33 about which the springis wound'. y gear 34 isalso secured to the shaft "33 and this gear 34 meshes with a pinion 35which is fastV to a shaft 36 mounte'dlin the partition 9 and the sideplate 8 and upon the same shaft 36 is a gear 37 whichmeshes witha gear38 upon a shaft 39 mounted in the partition 9 and the side plate 8 inthe same ,horizontal plane as the main shatQ, a gear 40 'being alsosecured upon the shaft B9 yand meshing with the pinion 14'upon the mainshafu It will thus be seen that when the shaft 7 is rotated by thedescendingorunwinding tape or cable 4, the motion is transmitted to thegear 34 so as toywind'the spring 3l and immediately upon the cablebeing-relieved of the weight of the Vperson who used the device thespring 31 will expand and tend to unwind and thereby actuate thedescribed gearing in the oppositeldirection so that the cable'will be-rewound :Within the drump and theV belt or other support carried by thecablerwill be drawn upwardly from the ground to the windowrof the roomin which the device is located so that it may be used by `anotherperson.

lt will be readily noted that we have provided avery compact, simpleandei-l cient device. which may be readily used by unskilled persons andwhich may be manufa'cti'ired at a low cost. The governor willeffectually retard the descent oi the person using thedevice and actswith the same eilieiency whether the escaping person is light or heavy.When the cable is being retracted, the governor is not actuated so thatthe work required oi' the springBl is minimized and no check is put uponthe rewinding of the cable to delay the second use of thel appa-y ratus.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

rlhe combination of a main shaft, means. rfor rotating said shaft, agovernor comprising a stationary peripheral wall, a rotatable disk,gearing connecting said disk with the with hooks engaging under the ireeends of the dogs whereby to actuate the said dogs and move the shoesoutwardly,

ln testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

onoiL` o: ABBOTT. wiLLARD aaien BAssET'r. BERT L. Bassnfrr.

inviN L. BAssETT.

L. s. [L s] [1.. s] L. s]

